Articles of Faith

I enjoy working in the Primary at church. I love being able to see what the kids are learning...but more....I like to see how they are behaving. Well now the senior and junior primary are separate. I don't get to see the younger three kids now. Sometimes the other teachers let me know how things are going.

Ethan is a crack up. He got talked to alot in primary and one time I remember coming from class and his nose was in the corner. SO we have had some pretty good talks. I am just so happy to say that Ethan is doing a TON better. He is really growing up and better able to sit and keep his hands to himself. I'm so grateful when I hear that he is doing so good.

On Sunday....this one particular teacher.....who we really LOVE....let me know about Ethan. We are starting something new in primary. The kids are really focussing on their Articles of Faith. They get to pass off one per month. But last week they allowed the kids to pass off as many as the first three. That teacher let me know that Ethan spatted through them like nobodies business. And then he even helped the other kids that couldn't get them...he would fill in the blank. It was all ok until it came around to his sister. When Rachel was trying to recite her Articles of Faith Ethan filled in the blank for her. That didn't make her happy. She knew them. It was just taking her a bit longer to think of some of the words. There are some big words in some of them. SHE WAS NOT HAPPY. I mean who would be happy if your younger sibling was 'trying' to help? I thought it was cute.

Here are the first three Articles of Faith for those of you who don't know what they are:

1: We believe in God the Eternal Father and in His son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.

2: We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adams transgressions.

3: We believe that through the Atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

AND for some more funny things from Mayah....

We were reading the scriptures one evening during dinner. We normally will read a few verses and then ask questions. We asked Mayah if she knew what a commandment was. HER reply: those things that stick to the fridge. OH it was cute. We helped her to realize that those were called magnents.

Then the other day I was talking to Mayah about the second Article of Faith. When we came to the word sin...I asked her if she knew was a sin was. When she nodded I was really excited. She said it was when you got an envelope and put something in it and mailed it. CLOSE...very close...but not quite. Maybe I didn't say it clear enough. So I made sure to say SIN not SEND.

OH these kids crack me up.....SO MUCH.

Flat

Tonight I played football with the kids. It was two on two. Zach and I against Caleb and Ethan. Ethan is QUICK. I am much slower than I used to be and it really showed. I was so proud of myself when Zach threw the ball and I caught it. I ran the ball down and made a touch down....but then....then... I slid in the mud and fell right on my back side. I wanted to cry at first because I hurt my wrist but it was so funny that I just laughed. The kids were laughing from the start. I'm sure it looked very comical. I had mud all down the side of my pants. We had a great time and I am pretty sure they still want me to play.

tears

I put the kids to bed and was in talking with Don in our room when Rachel came in and wanted me to come back to her room. I walked in and saw a piece of paper with the words: I miss you and love you Grandpa. I was ok until she started crying. It brought me to tears. So we both sat together and cried and talked about grandpa and how cool it was that we have our own special angel in Heaven watching over us. I explained how we just have to make sure that we are righteous so we can be together as a family. We also talked about how every summer when we went home to visit she would always get up super early (she never was up as early as grandpa....no one was) and crawl up on grandpa's lap. Her little lip quivered and she said...now I won't be able to do that. But then she lit up and said...but I can still sit in his chair. YES...she can still sit in his chair. I am so grateful for family. I am thankful for my daughter and her sensitive side. Sometimes she comes to me and tells me that she cried on the bus because she was thinking of grandpa. We love our grandpa and we do miss him too. But it isn't the end. I know we will see him again and I KNOW that it will all be worth the wait.

Laughter

OH how I love to laugh. And Mayah has really been making me laugh lately. Just wanted to document some of these funny times.

I was asking Mayah about Adam and Eve and if she knew who they were. We talked about it for awhile and then to test her I asked....so who was the first man on the earth? She quickly answered with Adam. Then I asked her who the first woman was and she said Neve. Super cute and it made me laugh. Say it out loud...Adam and Eve and it sounds exactly like Adam and Neve.

We also talked about how many brothers and sisters she has. When she said 3 brothers and 1 sister that sounded so out numbered. There is definately a need for more girls. And as a joke I said..We really need to get you another sister. Then she said....yeah I tried to get me one at Christmas. Just to make things clear here...sadly....there will be no more Puhlman kids. A little sad but our family is complete. (even though, secretly, if circumstances allowed I would love another girl).

Last night at dinner Mayah said the prayer. I love to listen to little kids pray. They are so pure and full of so much faith. I loved hearing Mayah say...and please help Grandpa to not miss us. AHHHH that is sooo adorable. Here we are the ones that are missing him like crazy.

I remember when I was pregnant with Mayah. I wanted to have a girl with curly hair REALLY BAD. I love curly hair. And she does have curly hair. It is really cute. I told Mayah quite awhile ago how I prayed that she would have curly hair. Well let's fast forward to two days ago. We were getting ready to go visiting teaching and I told Mayah that she needed to do something with her hair. Then she said...well either you straighten it or I do nothing. So I told her that I guess it was nothing because we had to leave and I wouldn't have enough time and then I went on to tell her that her hair was so pretty and that Heavenly Father wanted her to have curly hair. She then got mad and as she was leaving my room she turned around and yelled....then why did you have to say anything to Him. I was glad she had gone into her room because I couldn't hold the laughter back.

I tell ya...this girl cannot be only 4. I feel like I am raising a 13 year old in a 4 year old body. She is so funny and way beyond her years. That's a good thing right? Right guys? Just say YES. :)

Happy Anniversary

I can't believe I have been married for 15 years. Time goes so fast. I blew up 15 balloons and put a reason why I love him on each. Then I wrote him a letter and attached an Itune gift card to it. I left it in his car for him to see this morning. I won't share the reasons here. But it's been a good 15 years.....lots of trials...but I am glad I have such a supportive husband to help me along the way. Love you Don. Happy Anniversary.

A whole lotta gratitude

Yesterday after church we headed over to my sisters house for the night. We took both vehicles so that Don could go straight to work and I could get up early and get the kids back home in time for school.

SO we got everything packed and headed out the door. The boys were going to go with dad and the girls with me. Sounded perfect.

Mayah was all the way in the back already buckled up. Rachel hadn't gotten her seat belt on yet but asked if she could sit in Ethan's booster. I thought that would be fine since Ethan had a different booster that Don keeps in his car. So she got herself buckled up and I put the car in reverse but still had the break on. Mayah had decided that she wanted to put her carseat in the middle and sit by Rachel. So I waited while Rachel unbuckled her belt to help Mayah move the carseat.

And then I heard the back window pop open. There was Ethan at the back of the car. My heart just pounded. I would have started to back up if Mayah hadn't changed her mind about where to sit. Normally I start backing up even before they finish buckling their seat belt. We have a long drive way and they are usually done getting buckled up before we have to turn onto the road. But I AM SO ETERNALLY GRATEFUL that this day I did not do that. Don has to park his car at the end of the driveway because it is still full of snow and he can't get to the top yet. I thought Ethan had already walked down. I really feel that my father was watching over us. And I can't be more grateful. Just the thought of something like that happening brought me to tears. I cried on the way to my sisters house...more out of being thankful. And to think of the what if's...oh did that ever hurt....all the way to my inner core.

It made me think how precious life is and how quickly something can happen. Only seconds could have caused a tragedy and I am so thankful.....I can't even express how much gratitude I feel.

Wish I could remember........

I always set my alarm for 6:30 a.m. in order to give us enough time to get to the bus. Well this morning I overslept. I remember waking right when the alarm started going off but I didn't get out of bed and I ended up falling back to sleep.........until 7:15. YIKES. We have to leave the house at 7:35 to catch the buses. Caleb catches his at 7:40 and the other three at 7:45. I was so grateful I made their sausage and scrambled eggs last night...we just got up and thew them in a tortilla and quickly downed glasses of milk and were able to get out the door and make the bus on time. PHEW...town is a bit of a drive that I try not to do too often.

After all the hussle and bussle this morning I started to remember a dream I had. I hardly ever sleep through the alarm...maybe only one other time that I can remember. I had a dream about my dad. All I can remember is him handing me a piece of paper with something on it. I couldn't make out what it was so I flipped the paper over. My dad turned it the right way to make it right and said something to me about it but I can't quite remember. I know it involved my cousins husband, Sam. But that is all I remember. I wish I could remember what was on the paper.

Last night I prayed to Heavenly Father asking him to PLEASE tell my dad how much I miss him.

I have been doing quite well and not crying nearly as much. My sister works as an X-ray tech and has a friend at the hospital that did my dads CT scan. She emailed her with a funny story about my dad. He was a FUNNY man and he really did have a sense of humor. Even when he was at the end of his life and getting prepped to be airlifted he was still cracking jokes. Her friend said that all the nurses really liked dad. What he said to one of the nurses made me laugh but then after thinking more about it I got all sad thinking I wasn't going to get to hear those stories or funnies anymore. He could really make a stressful situation lighter. I wish I were more like him in that way. I stress A LOT. :)